JDHS girls soccer returns from Anchorage with two wins and a tie

The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé girls soccer team just returned home from three non-conference games in Anchorage last week with two wins and a tie, setting their record now at 6-1-1 and 4-0 in conference.

Thursday the Crimson Bears first faced off against Bettye Davis East Anchorage High School for a 4-1 win. JDHS freshman Peyton Wheeler claimed the first and third goal with junior Nikki King scoring the second and junior Cadence Plummer putting in the last. Sophomore Adelyn Buss, freshman Kenzie Simonson and Wheeler were all credited with assists, as well, with “Hard Hat” player of the game honors going to Simonson.

Head coach Matt Dusenberry said that going into Thursday’s game one of the main focuses he tried to prepare the team for was East Acnhorage’s Shebly Hall-Wright.

“I’ve coached her a few times on some travel trips, she’s going to be playing collegiately next year,” Dusenberry said. “I told our kids she’s going to be able to dribble through and she’s strong and the only goal East managed to get came from her, she collected the ball and dribbled through our kids. But we were still able to manage most of the game and put four in the back of the net ourselves, so it was a nice way to start the trip.”

Friday’s game saw the Bears square off against Grace Christian High School for a 7-1 victory. Dusenberry said it couldn’t go without acknowledging that weather was slightly a factor with heavy snowfall recently hitting south Anchorage, so much so that fans were forced to hover around the track rather than sit in the bleachers due to the excessive amount of snow still left over from recent storms.

“Honestly, this time of year is tough, we schedule these games in September and we’re obviously making our best guess with weather, so Anchorage has had a heck of a winter this year, so we were just happy that we were even able to have this Grace game because as of Monday it was still up in the air as to where we were going to have it,” Dusenberry said.

Wheeler once again was responsible for the Bears’ first goal and fourth, with junior Nikki King making the second, third and fifth goal and juniors Cadence Plummer and junior Ruby Rivas making the last two. King, Simonson, Wheeler and sophomore Mary Canapary each had assists and King was named player of the game.

Lastly, JDHS finished up their Anchorage tour against North Pole High School, which resulted in a tie game at 3-3. Dusenberry said that while normally a tie in a non-conference game wouldn’t affect the rest of the season,in the case of North Pole, they’re still within J-D’s division, so a tie game could always factor into seeding for the state tournament.

“North Pole is a school we played last year in the semi-finals and they, too, like the East game, have a player that’s going to be playing next year actually with one of our alumni Blake Plummer at Peninsula College, that’s Desi Dutra,” Dusenberry said. “We chatted about her, as well; I told the team she’s quick, she knows how to put the ball in the back of the net and she’s got really good feet in that she’s tough to get the ball off of her once she has it.”

Wheeler scored the first two goals for JDHS with Plummer scoring the third and final goal for the Crimson Bears, and Rivas took the player of the game honors.

“It was a lot of soccer and it was nice to see the kids put forth the effort that they did and get the results that they were hoping for,” Dusenberry said. “Even with the tie, we were controlling most of that match and were getting quite a few shots on goal, it just didn’t quite go the way we were hoping exactly but we still kept ourselves in the game.”

Next, JDHS plays against Thunder Mountain High School on Wednesday at 5:15 p.m. at the TMHS field.

• Contact reporter Jonson Kuhn at jonson.kuhn@juneauempire.com